6A — Monday, February 20, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘August Snow’ presents
lively testament to Detroit
It’s always a weird feeling
to be reading a story set in
an area one knows. For this
reason, “August Snow” feels
like an eerie walk through
well-known
areas
near
Ann Arbor. Set in Detroit’s
Mexicantown area, mentions
of the University of Michigan
and Traverse City abound. The
way it paints Detroit is one of
the greatest joys of reading
this book, leaving no stone
unturned on the misfortunes of
the city, but yet still sounding
well and truly in love with the
city, despite the flaws.
Following lead character
August
Snow,
the
novel
carries the reader through a
thrilling mystery as Grosse
Pointe rich widower Eleanor
Paget is murdered at her
home. Despite August not
being in the police service
due to a long lawsuit that took
place previous to the book’s
arc, he feels morally obliged
to investigate and uncover
the truth, as he carries an
inherent distrust of the police
and Detroit politics.
“August
Snow”
is
an
absolute joy to read from
start to finish; Stephen Mack
Jones has infused a real love
of Detroit into every page.
Characters are full of life, with
August being a modern day
anti-hero to a T, burdened with
responsibility he never asked
for but with the moral compass
to ensure that he gets the job
done regardless. It’s almost a
break of convention from the
reluctant, mopey heros that
many
authors
are
turning
to.
August
is
a
community
leader,
cares
about his peers,
and
has
been
through a crazy
life and yet still
is
thoughtful,
polite, and a thrill to follow
through his adventures from
his viewpoint. This backstory
is only alluded to throughout
the plot, and helps to create
a little intrigue in August;
despite the book being written
in first person, nothing is
revealed clearly about August’s
past.
One of the main themes
of this book is the strong
sense
of
community
that
August builds around himself
throughout the plot. As a self-
described
‘blaxican’
(Black
father,
Mexican
mother),
August attempts to balance
both aspects of his heritage
throughout the book. In several
touching scenes, he attempts
to
help
an
undocumented
immigrant family, surprising
them by being able to speak
Spanish when they are initially
wary of him.
Despite being a crime drama,
it’s these small little moments
that really make the book
stand out as something special.
There’s such a wide range of
background characters that
crop up occasionally, and each
time they’re more memorable
than the last. A stoic FBI agent
with a wry sense of humor, a
lesbian couple who live in a
mansion near Traverse City,
and a couple of old ladies who
wear odd knitted hats are just
a few personal favorites.
Even at the story’s most
stagnant
moments,
it
is
consistently
saved
by
the
high
level
of
characterization.
Later
in
the
book, in the more
action-oriented
scenes,
there
is still enough good banter
between the characters to
ensure the story is not lost
behind the occasional action
sequence. In fact, nearly every
seemingly small conversation
that occurs seems to have some
greater significance that may
not reveal itself until several
chapters later. On his journey
to solve the murder, August
talks to many people, however
it is never clear until the very
end of the book who it may
have been. When the big reveal
eventually happens, it’s almost
a nonchalant thing, as the
murder has taken the back seat
to a darker secret.
Stephen Mack Jones has
produced
a
lovable
ode
to
Detroit
and
the
many
characters
that
live
there,
and although the plot is not
groundbreaking by any means,
the liveliness of the world he
creates is something to behold.
With a potential for more
books about August, we can
only hope this isn’t the last we
see of him.
MEGAN WILLIAMS
Daily Arts Writer
“August
Snow”
Stephen Mack
Jones
Soho Crime
It’s these small
little moments
that really make
the book stand out
‘Humans’ requires time
A recent trend in cable dramas
has been taking several episodes
to build their story. They take their
time by unfolding ideas slowly
until the plot explodes in the last
couple hours of the season. Some
showrunners have embraced this
ability, especially on Netflix where
dramas are meant to be binged in a
short time frame. Only some shows
are able to pull this off, however,
because they have strength behind
their themes that to allows them
to unfold their story slowly. Shows
like “The Americans” use time to
build their characters and allow
the tension to become palpable.
AMC’s “Humans” tries to use this
format, and so far it’s been able
to pull it off. “Humans” tells a
fascinating story, but its slow story
rollout will undermine all that
work without great payoffs.
“Humans” picks up a few
months after the events of the
season one finale. Niska (Emily
Berrington,
“24:
Live
Another
Day”),
hiding
in
Berlin
after
escaping with a
block of code that
can make robots
sentient,
releases
the
code
and
struggles to form a relationship
with a girl she meets at a club
(Bella Dayne, “The Man in the
High Castle”). Since she released
the code, Leo (Colin Morgan, “The
Fall”) and Max (Ivanno Jeremiah,
“The Veteran”) have been trying
to track down the synths that have
become sentient in order to protect
them while Mia (Gemma Chan,
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to
Find Them”) starts to work for the
owner of an ice cream shop. The
Hawkins
family
tries to move on
from
Joe
(Tom
Goodman-Hill,
“Mr.
Selfridge”)
cheating on his wife,
Laura
(Katherine
Parkinson,
“The
Kennedys”),
with
Mia.
“Humans”
is
interested
in dealing with deeper ideas
surrounding how robots deserve
to be treated, especially as they
gain more human traits. In this
world, robots are used for slave
labor. They take on jobs as cooks,
miners,
factory
workers
and
maids, among other occupations.
They’re being used to fill out roles
in the workforce more cheaply.
(In fact, Joe is laid off from his
managerial job in the premiere,
and is replaced by a robot.) When
the robots gain consciousness in
the premiere, they escape their
jobs to try and figure out what else
is out there besides the holes they
live and work in. Robots aren’t
being treated like people, so when
they do achieve sentience, there’s
a moment when they realize what
humans want their role to be. The
robots struggle with this much
more than the humans do, and it’s
one of the driving factors behind
Niska’s actions. These fascinating
questions are at the core of the
show,
and
inherently
make
“Humans” worth following.
“Humans” tells its story at a
very deliberate pace, which has
mixed results for the show as a
whole. The premiere spends a lot
of time starting to build its plans
ALEX INTNER
Daily Arts Writer
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
BOOK REVIEW
TV REVIEW
“Humans”
Season 2 Premiere
AMC
Mondays at 10 p.m.